Programme Details

One of the country's greatest regeneration projects in recent years is soon to reach completion - the banks of the River Tyne in Gateshead. It has already seen the completion of the award winning Millennium Foot Bridge, and the flour mill turned arts space, Baltic. And now Foster and Partners music centre, The Sage Gateshead, is to open to the public this weekend. The principal architect Spencer de Grey joins Paul Allen to discuss his approach to this £70 million project.

Also in the programme, the Belfast novelist Glenn Patterson on why "sorry" seems to be the hardest word. Marina Warner on the Big Idea which she considers shaped 2004. And director Richard Eyre on his stage version of Julie Andrew's iconic film, Mary Poppins.

Night Waves, live at 9.30pm on BBC Radio 3


Presenter: Paul Allen
Producer: Jerome Weatherald



Additional Information
1) The Sage, Gateshead, opens on 17 December 2004 www.thesagegateshead.org
2) Mary Poppins opens at the Prince Edward Theatre, London, on 15 December.